Bridgend Council has published its draft budget proposals for the 2024-25 financial year (pdf).
Although the settlement from the Welsh Government is expected to result in a 3% increase to BCBC’s budget, the number of pressures on the council’s finances has led to an extraordinary list of proposed cuts, savings and increases to taxes and charges.
It’s worth stressing from the outset that these are draft proposals and are subject to change. The proposals will need to be debated by the council’s scrutiny committees before any final budget is put before councillors for a vote (currently set for 28th February 2024).
The council expects to find just over £16million worth of cuts and savings for 2024-25.
The council also faces an ongoing £10.3million overspend (down slightly from the previous estimate), driven mainly by social services, homelessness and home-school transport (pdf).
There are 119 separate proposals (pdf) – the most I’ve ever seen since starting Oggy Bloggy Ogwr in 2011.
The proposals include:
Education & Childcare
- A 5% cut to school budgets, with an 8% cut in total across the next four financial years – totalling £9.2million by 2028.
- Merging infant and junior schools, as well as closing smaller schools – potentially saving over £600,000 by 2028.
- Cut nursery provision to the legal minimum, which would affect “rising 4s” and Welsh-medium childcare in particular.
- Withdraw all funding for adult community learning.
- A £154,000 cut to school catering maintenance budgets.
Social Services, Leisure & Wellbeing
- End grants to charities involved in bereavement, substance misuse, hospital discharge, stroke and dementia services, saving around £151,000.
- Withdrawing all funding for Meals-at-Home/”Meals on Wheels”.
- Withdrawing security patrols at Brynmenyn House (homeless shelter), saving £150,000.
- Waive protections for concessionary leisure facility charges, and review leisure centre opening hours.
- Possible redevelopment of Bridgend Indoor Bowls Centre arena space for “increased income generation” (though this would happen from 2025-26 onwards).
Transport, Recycling & Communities
- Bridgend bus station and its public toilets would close from 2025-26 (buses would be redirected elsewhere), saving £239,000 across two financial years. This means councillors and officers will have a year to find a solution to keep it open or provide an alternative.
- A £255,000 cut to climate change budgets, impacting the roll-out of electric vehicle charging stations.
- An 80% cut to street cleaning teams, meaning fewer litter collections, the withdrawal of dog waste bag (Tipsac) dispensers and no new bins being installed.
- Paper recycling calendars would no longer be sent out to residents and blue bag deliveries could stop in 2025-26, meaning residents would have to buy bin bags – saving £302,000 in total.
- An official end to Shopmobility (which was suspended in October 2022).
- Closing recycling centres/tips for one day a week over the weekend on top of the rolling one-day closure already approved by the council.
- End grants to community centres run on behalf of BCBC.
Administration
- Around £3.5million in cuts to the council’s spending on itself, which will lead to “staff restructuring” in pretty much every council department.
- Closing Raven’s Court and the Innovation Centre at Bridgend Science Park and relocating posts to the Civic Offices.
There are also proposals for fee increases:
- Charging full price for pest control.
- Charging full price to use Porthcawl Marina.
- Increase burial charges by up to 20%.
- Increase green bag/garden waste fees to £50 a year (£45 for pensioners).
- Increase bulky waste collection fees to £30 (currently £25).
- Increase school meal charges by 30p-per-meal (some of this will be offset by the Welsh Government’s universal free school meals for primary-age pupils).
Last but not least, on top of all of the above BCBC is expecting to increase council tax by 9.5% – which would easily be the biggest council tax hike since the council was established as a unitary authority.
